Kapp Putsch
The Kapp Putsch â€"or more accurately the
Kapp-LĂĽttwitz Putsch â€"was an
attempt to overthrow the
Weimar Republic, based in opposition to the imposed
Treaty of Versailles at the end of
World War I.
In early
1919, the strength of the
Reichswehr, the regular army, was estimated at 350,000. There were in addition in excess of 250,000 men enlisted in the various
Freikorps. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty,
Germany was required to reduce its armed forces to a maximum of 100,000.
Freikorps units were therefore expected to be disbanded.
In March
1920 orders were issued for the disbandment of the
Marinebrigade Ehrhardt. Its leaders were determined to resist dissolution and appealed to General
Walther von LĂĽttwitz, commander of the
Berlin Reichswehr, for support. LĂĽttwitz, an organiser of
Freikorps units in
1918â€"19 and a fervent
monarchist, responded by calling on
President Friedrich Ebert and
Defense Minister Gustav Noske to stop the whole programme of troop reductions. When Ebert refused, LĂĽttwitz ordered the
Marinebrigade Ehrhardt to march on Berlin. It occupied the capital on
13 March. LĂĽttwitz, therefore, was the driving force behind the 1920 putsch. Its nominal leader, though, was
Wolfgang Kapp, a 62-year-old
East Prussian civil servant and fervent nationalist.
At this point Noske called upon the regular army to suppress the putsch. He encountered a blank refusal. The
Chef der Heeresleitung General
Hans von Seeckt, one of the
Reichswehr's senior commanders, told him:
"Reichswehr does not shoot on
Reichswehr". The government, forced to abandon Berlin, moved to
Stuttgart. As it did so it issued a proclamation calling on Germany's workers to defeat the putsch by means of a
general strike. The strike call received massive support. With the country paralysed, the putsch collapsed, and Kapp and LĂĽttwitz, unable to govern, fled to
Sweden.
There were two main reasons why the
Weimar Republic survived in 1920. First, the
working class rallied to its defence. Second, most of the leading
Freikorps commanders refused to join the putsch, perhaps with the view that it was premature.
See also
1920 in Germany.
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The Kapp Putsch*
The Kapp Putsch at Schools History
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Kapp Putsch
